Best Sound Card

A: Auzentech is working hard to create the best sound card for PC audio enthusiasts.

Auzentech is working hard to create the best sound card for PC audio enthusiasts. In this article, we discuss some of the key ingredients of our work: who designs our cards, how we design them, our approach to analog and digital outputs, and bit resolution. First, a little about the Auzentech design team and our ideas about what makes a sound card the best.

Auzentech is working hard to create the best sound card for PC audio enthusiasts. In this article, we discuss some of the key ingredients of our work: who designs our cards, how we design them, our approach to analog and digital outputs, and bit resolution. First, a little about the Auzentech design team and our ideas about what makes a sound card the best.

Who designs Auzentech sound cards?

Auzentech team members have long been involved in innovative audio solutions. Composed of experts in audio controller performance, we develop digital-audio and analog-audio-mixing technologies from the ground-up which is, in our opinion, the only way to create the best sound cards.

How was are Auzentech sound cards designed?

At the heart of Auzentech sound cards are C-Media chipsets. These chipsets are the first to provide Dolby® Digital Live and DTS Connect support. An ordinary soundcard manufacturer takes the standard design provided by the chipset designer builds a card using that design. To build the best sound card, Auzentech designs each PCI sound card specifically for the chipsets to meet higher standards desired by dedicated audiophiles. The result is amazing, audiophile-quality sound.

How does the sound card perform with analog output?

Admittedly, our cards are designed with a view toward the best sound card audio, something which is increasingly attainable only via digital outputs. Our cards include high quality Operational Amplifiers (OPAMPS), but there is room for improvement by upgrading the operational amplifiers in the cards. The Auzentech FAQ page tells how to do this. Please note that if you are using your Auzentech sound card to feed a digital bitstream your to external Audio Visual (AV) receiver, upgrading your OPAMPS will not alter the audio from that configuration.

Does the sound card interface with AV Receivers?

Indeed. Possibly the most best way to use your Auzentech sound card is by interfacing with your Audio Visual (AV) surround sound receiver. The X-Plosion, for example, puts out up to 7.1 DTS channels of pure digital bitstream to your receiver using Sony/Philips Digital Interface (S/PDIF), a protocol that is used to transfer digital signals without quality loss between two digital devices using Toslink connectors (invented by Toshiba, hence the name).

Do your cards handle full multiple channel output with no loss?

In designing the best sound card, we decided that a multichannel digital signal that is input to your Auzentech sound should be able to pass through the soundcard to your AV receiver, such as a 7.1 channel DTS, without any loss or distortion.

A lower capacity soundcard does not have the same flexibility. If the card only provides stereo output, it cannot pass multichannel audio to your digital receiver; it down-samples the signal into something it can handle. So you may be able to play DTS, but never really hear it: not the best sound card solution.

The digital signal output by your Auzentech sound card could also begin as two-channel stereo recording, such as an MP3 file or CD. The X-Mystique, X-Plosion, and X-Meridian are some of the best sound cards to up-sample stereo audio into multi-channel surround sound.

What is the bit resolution? Why does that matter?

You can think of audio bit resolution as not that much different than images resolution: the higher the resolution, the greater the clarity. On standard CD audio, the resolution is 16bit at 44.1kHz. That's acceptable to the average listener.

DVD audio is better. The best sound cards can handle these higher rates, such as the default of 24bits at 96kHz and the top resolution of 24bit at 192kHz. With these samples taken 192,000 times per second, you have extremely accurate audio recording and playback compared to CD audio.

The X-Mystique and X-Plosion soundcards handle up to 96kHz sampling. The forthcoming X-Meridian soundcard will handle up to 192 kHz, making it one of the very best sound cards available. These cards provide sound quality of such high resolution that 99 out of 100 people probably cannot tell the sound does not come from an analog source.

Next Steps

The decision of which soundcard is best for you will depend on the equipment to which you will be connecting your soundcard, and your own objectives. The X-Meridian, X-Plosion, and X-Mystique are some of the best sound cards and are able to produce better audio reproduction than most of us have ever heard, analog or digital. When you're looking for the best sound card, Auzentech.com is the place to start.

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Category: Soundcards. Date published: May 22, 06